A compiled reference of 20 verified statistics on residential cooking fires in the United States: how many there are and how much harm they do, what causes them and which equipment is involved, when they spike during the year, and how far they spread. Every figure is drawn from a named public source (the U.S. Fire Administration's NFIRS data and Ready.gov) and independently checked before publishing.
What equipment is involved
Equipment involved in ignition of nonconfined residential cooking fires, 2017-2019.
Source: U.S. Fire Administration, Cooking Fires in Residential Buildings 2017-2019 (usfa.fema.gov). Bars scaled to the 71% leader.
Key statistics
Key takeaways
Cooking is the single largest cause of home fires, and the leading trigger is simply walking away from the stove. The numbers below trace the scale, the causes, and the timing that make it so predictable, and so preventable.
About 187,500 residential cooking fires a year caused 165 deaths, 3,325 injuries, and $444 million in loss (2017-2019).
Cooking is by far the leading cause of residential building fires, at 51%.
Unattended equipment is the leading specific factor, at 37% of nonconfined fires.
Oil, fat, and grease are the leading material ignited, at 45%.
Cooking fires peak in November and on Thanksgiving Day.
Ranges or stoves are the equipment involved in 71% of nonconfined cooking fires.
How we built this report
Every figure was compiled in September 2026 from named public sources and verified against the original before publishing.
- Compiled from primary sources
The U.S. Fire Administration's topical report on cooking fires in residential buildings (NFIRS data) and Ready.gov fire-safety guidance.
- Government data throughout
Frequency, cause, equipment, and timing figures come only from the USFA, read from the original report; safety guidance is quoted from Ready.gov.
- Only explicitly stated figures
We include only numbers a named source states directly, and attribute each inline at the point it appears.
- Independent review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
Scope note: USFA figures are three-year annual averages for 2017-2019 from NFIRS. Cause, material, and equipment percentages are for nonconfined fires (those that spread beyond the cooking vessel), which the report analyzes in most detail; confined fires, contained to the cooking vessel, are the most common cooking-fire type but carry less detailed data.
Cooking fires, by the numbers
All 20 figures, grouped into three themes, each from a named public source and independently verified against the original.
The scale
Cooking is the largest single cause of home fires by a wide margin. According to the U.S. Fire Administration (usfa.fema.gov), fire departments responded to an estimated 187,500 residential cooking fires a year from 2017 to 2019, causing 165 deaths, 3,325 injuries, and $444 million in loss, and cooking accounted for 51% of all residential building fires.
Statistic 1
About 187,500 residential cooking fires a year (2017-2019) caused 165 deaths, 3,325 injuries, and $444 million in property loss.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 2
Cooking is by far the leading cause of all residential building fires, accounting for 51%.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 3
Cooking is the leading cause of residential building fire injuries, at about 3,325 a year.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 4
Kitchens are the leading area of fire origin in residential buildings.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 5
Multifamily dwellings accounted for 46% of residential cooking fires.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 6
Cooking fires occur most in the late afternoon and evening, from 4 to 9 p.m. (highest 5 to 8 p.m.).
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 7
Cooking fires peak in November (9%) and decline to their lowest in July and August.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
What this means: No other cause comes close: half of all home fires start with cooking. For a multifamily operator, that is a shared-building risk, one unit's unattended pan is everyone's fire, which is why kitchen behavior and working alarms matter portfolio-wide.
The causes
Cooking fires are remarkably consistent in how they start. According to the U.S. Fire Administration (usfa.fema.gov), the leading specific factor is unattended equipment (37%), the leading material ignited is oil, fat, and grease (45%), and the equipment involved is overwhelmingly the range or stove (71%).
Statistic 8
Cooking fires peak on Thanksgiving Day, followed by Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, New Year's Day, and New Year's Eve.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 9
Unattended equipment (leaving food on the stove or in the oven) is the leading specific factor, at 37% of nonconfined cooking fires.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 10
"Misuse of material or product" (unattended, accidentally on or not off, failure to clean) contributed to 57% of nonconfined cooking fires.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 11
Oil, fat, and grease are the leading material ignited, at 45% of nonconfined cooking fires.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 12
Ranges or stoves are the equipment involved in 71% of nonconfined cooking fires; heating stoves 8% and ovens 7%.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 13
Grills or barbecues were involved in just 4% of nonconfined cooking fires, and microwave ovens another 4%.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 14
Confined fires, contained to the contents of a cooking vessel, are the most common type of cooking fire.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
What this means: The cause is behavioral, not mechanical: an unattended pan of hot grease on a stove, most often on a holiday when kitchens are busiest. That is why prevention is about attention and habit far more than equipment, and why the holidays are the highest-risk window of the year.
Spread, detection, and prevention
Most cooking fires stay small, but the ones that do not move fast. According to the U.S. Fire Administration (usfa.fema.gov), 92% of cooking fires stayed limited to the object of origin, yet Ready.gov (ready.gov) warns a home can be engulfed in five minutes, which is why staying in the kitchen and a working smoke alarm are the core defenses.
Statistic 15
92% of residential cooking fires were limited to the object of origin, and only 1% extended beyond the room.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 16
Smoke alarms were present in 67% of nonconfined cooking fires in occupied residential buildings.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 17
In unoccupied residential buildings, only 35% of nonconfined cooking fires had smoke alarms that operated.
U.S. Fire Administration (2021)
Statistic 18
A home can be engulfed in flames in five minutes, and a small flame can become a major fire in under 30 seconds.
Ready.gov (2026)
Statistic 19
Ready.gov advises staying in the kitchen when frying, grilling, or broiling, and turning off the stove if you leave even briefly.
Ready.gov (2026)
Statistic 20
A working smoke alarm significantly increases the chance of surviving a home fire.
Ready.gov (2026)
What this means: The margin is thin. Most cooking fires are catchable in the first minute, when someone is standing there, and dangerous when no one is. A present-and-working smoke alarm plus the simple discipline of not leaving the stove is the whole prevention strategy, and both are checkable conditions, not luck.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
How many cooking fires happen each year?
Fire departments responded to an estimated average of 187,500 cooking fires in residential buildings each year from 2017 to 2019, causing about 165 deaths, 3,325 injuries, and $444 million in property loss, according to the US Fire Administration (usfa.fema.gov). Cooking is by far the leading cause of residential building fires, at 51%.
What is the leading cause of cooking fires?
Unattended equipment, such as leaving food on the stove or in the oven, is the leading specific factor at 37% of nonconfined fires, according to the US Fire Administration (usfa.fema.gov). Oil, fat, and grease are the leading material ignited at 45%, and ranges or stoves are the equipment involved in 71%.
When do most cooking fires happen?
Cooking fires occur most in the late afternoon and evening, from 4 to 9 p.m., and peak in November, according to the US Fire Administration (usfa.fema.gov). The highest numbers of reported cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, New Year's Day, and New Year's Eve.
How can cooking fires be prevented?
Stay in the kitchen when frying, grilling, or broiling, and turn off the stove if you leave even briefly, according to Ready.gov (ready.gov), because unattended cooking is the leading cause. A working smoke alarm significantly increases survival, and a home can be engulfed in flames in as little as five minutes.
Data sources
Every figure traces to one of these named public sources, each checked against the original before publishing. We name each source and show its root domain, but do not hyperlink external sources; internal links stay live.
U.S. Fire AdministrationTopical report on cooking fires in residential buildings (NFIRS)usfa.fema.gov
Ready.gov (DHS)Home fire safety and cooking guidanceready.gov